StepNode instances do not have arguments - parsing

Question

I'm writing a hook to be run before the execution of every step. The hook function basically manipulates the arguments given to the step.
Here is the code I'm using (the last two lines are for testing):
/** #BeforeStep */
public function beforeStep($event) {
$step_node = $event->getStep();
$args = $step_node->getArguments();
print_r($args);
die();
}
$step_node is an instance of StepNode
$args is supposed to be an array of arguments relating to that step.
For any given step I test this on, the argument array is always empty. I also tried printing out the arguments using the AfterStep hook and the array is still empty.
Am I missing something as to how behat grabs arguments and deals with steps?

Answer 1

getArguments() returns an array of Behat\Gherkin\Node\TableNode, allowing access to table rows. For example :
Given the following users:
| name | followers |
| everzet | 147 |
| avalanche123 | 142 |
| kriswallsmith | 274 |
| fabpot | 962 |
You can try parsing the arguments from step_node.getText() but it would probably be better to use a transformation. This will allow you to process any arguments before the step is run.
One example from the Behat Mink documentation :
/**
* #Transform /^user (.*)$/
*/
public function castUsernameToUser($username)
{
return new User($username);
}